Not again.......! Feral Hog Control in East Texas

That was a Rat knife. I have several of them in different sizes, and unfortunately I have been pretty disappointed with them. I got through removing and skinning the legs on one hog this morning and had to switch to another knife to do the other. They just don't seem to hold the edge for beans!
In all fairness, hogs are probably one of the toughest animals for a knife to work on as far as I am concerned. You are talking tough skin and hair covered with sand over it.
I seem to have accumulated a bunch of knives over the years and some of them just work better. I do like the feel and looks of the Rat knives, but not the performance. My best knives are probably an old homemade butcher knife I bought for $4.00 at a flea market, and a Case that holds the edge pretty good.
 
Marginal size hogs?

Don't know if I can get a video to upload here....I'm really computer dumb. These kids I let go...just too small.
 
^^^^^^^

Don't feel bad Stony, I need to take the time to learn how to upload videos to YouTube and embed them....as well.

I'm a computer Dinosaur despite having used one almost everyday for the last 25 yrs.

Even so, I haven't kept up with technology. Our generation didn't 'grow up' with computers so we are at a bit of a disadvantage. Capable of learning it...just not wanting to in every case.

Carry on.

Flint.
 
I wish I had an HCAR. 30 rounds of '06 and a quick trigger. There wouldn't be a sounder by magazine 2.
 
I think I misstated the acreage on that tract, it's actually 1,100..not much different. I only have one active bait site on that property right now. When everything dries out where I can get access to more areas, I normally have 4 sites where I feed deer and whatever else will eat the corn. I keep one more site pretty active on another piece of property that's about 400 acres, but my access is limited there as well right now because of all the rain we have had.
If the rain keeps up, I would think we would become classified as "rain forest". I have been stuck more this spring that I have in the past 10 yrs. or so around here. I can walk out in my back yard and pick up one shovelful of dirt, and in a few minutes the hole will be full of water...we are that saturated. Last year we ended up just over 60 inches of rain if I remember right.
A lot of folks in other parts of the country think Texas is just a lot of hot desert, but that's not necessarily so.
 
Stony Wrote:

my access is limited there as well right now because of all the rain we have had.
If the rain keeps up, I would think we would become classified as "rain forest". Last year we ended up just over 60 inches of rain if I remember right.
A lot of folks in other parts of the country think Texas is just a lot of hot desert, but that's not necessarily so.
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Yep.

East Texas definitely isn't Hot Desert.

Who's turn is it to get the pasture gate? ;)

floodgate_zpst5pbwcf4.jpg
 
Just finishing up cleaning up after my morning's endeavors, and realized this sort of looks like a war zone here! I normally just take the hind legs off them unless they are big fat ones and then I take the backstraps too.
It took me 4 knives this morning to get the legs removed and skinned off of these and there was only 6 small ones. No matter what I use for a knife, that sandy pig skin is tough on a blades edge.
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Try a stone knife. A researcher came to the university in the late 90's and was testing stone knives. We had a horse die after a months long battle with a mesquite thorn embedded in its throat. He skinned that horse with one stone knife in under an hour.
 
Flint....that gate sort of looks familiar to me!! I have one hog trap that is about that far under water and I doubt I will even be able to get it out to move it somewhere else until maybe the middle of next summer..if I'm lucky. I can't get within several hundred yards of it right now.
Tom...I have a couple friends that have Stone knives, but I don't think I would want to invest that much money into something to whack off hog legs with. I have a couple Randall's that don't do all that well...considering their price. My best knife for this so far has still been an old homemade butcher knife that cost me 4.00 at a flea market. I have one Case that holds up pretty good, but half a dozen other brands just don't cut it ...if you will excuse the expression. I have a friend that took a couple of courses with the House brothers and he has started forging his own knives. He said he will bring one of his for me to try....this could prove interesting.
 
On one hand, I envy you guys with feral hogs, on the other hand I understand that they are rather disruptive to the local flora and fauna. Maybe someday I'll make it down to Texas.

For what it's worth, I use a sawz-all to cut the legs and heads from my deer and elk. No fuss, no muss.
 
Guys we know all about the water here in Oklahoma. Over Christmas we were literally stranded. No way in or out. And we were told by a couple guys that work for the Grand River Dam Authority that we should be prepared to evacuate. Ive lived in the same town 33 years. Never have we been told that. There was just too much water to contain. We could almost launch our bass boats from our shop. That shop is over 1.5 miles from ANY creek. And about 9 miles from the river. If you could find high ground, you could walk 100 yards in, almost anywhere, and shoot 10-30 pigs. They had nowhere to go. Unfortunately, I didn't get to partake in the festivities. You guys will dry out before you know it. But damn the mosquitos are gonna be bad down there.
 
Don't know if it's been considered but now would be a fine time to put a hurt on those wild pigs, I'm sure the ones in the flood zones have moved to what islands remain. By air or boat they'd be easy pickens compared to low water.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 
I'm afraid the hogs in this area still have lots of places to hide. We are pretty flat around here and not much high ground anywhere close. I have spent the last few days at First Monday Trade Days...a local flea market that covers about 200 acres. People from all over the country come here for this and I've been talking to a lot of guys there from Mo, Ga, Al, La, etc....They are all talking flooding. One guy from Houston really had some tales to tell. Even some of the grounds of the trade days market had some minor flooding over the past couple days. Must be about time to start building an arc...and don't forget a pair of hogs!
 
BigBore44 wrote:

Guys we know all about the water here in Oklahoma. Over Christmas we were literally stranded. No way in or out. And we were told by a couple guys that work for the Grand River Dam Authority that we should be prepared to evacuate. Ive lived in the same town 33 years. Never have we been told that. There was just too much water to contain.
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Definitely know what you mean. Our family has had a cabin in the Tulsa Ozark Club on Spavinaw Creek since the 1930's. That entire watershed below 'Grand Lake' is prone to flooding.

In the summer of 1971 my older brother and I were up at the cabin, going to spend a week then come back. It started raining the day we got there, rained for 3 days.

The low water bridge across the creek was completely under water, the high water bridge above the dam at upper Spavinaw wasn't passable either (never seen that before).

We were stranded there for four days waiting for the water to recede. Never saw so many snakes in my life! They were driven up away from the creek area.

If there had been feral hogs in the area back then, no doubt they would been looking for high ground like everything else.
 
A cousin lives beside the Cuero-Victoria highway, a mile from the Guadalupe River. The 500-year flood of 1998 (IIRC) had water well past the highway. He put a trap quite near his house. 34 hogs.
 
BigBore44 said:
Guys we know all about the water here in Oklahoma. Over Christmas we were literally stranded. No way in or out. And we were told by a couple guys that work for the Grand River Dam Authority that we should be prepared to evacuate. Ive lived in the same town 33 years. Never have we been told that. There was just too much water to contain. We could almost launch our bass boats from our shop. That shop is over 1.5 miles from ANY creek. And about 9 miles from the river. If you could find high ground, you could walk 100 yards in, almost anywhere, and shoot 10-30 pigs. They had nowhere to go. Unfortunately, I didn't get to partake in the festivities. You guys will dry out before you know it. But damn the mosquitos are gonna be bad down there.
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Didn't hear about that. Dang.
 
Flintnapper I just wanted you to know this is still one of the best post on almost all of the forums I visit. I read the post several months back. I reread them again tonight. I wish I had some land in Texas to hunt hogs. I am sorry they tear up the land. Keep up the good work and the post going. There is some great information here. I wish you all the luck. I will keep checking back on this post periodically to see how the battle goes.
 
Up to # 535

I had to take a few days off for other activities, but back to it this morning. I found these little girls waiting for me in a trap. Surgery awaits !!
DSCN1466_zpsj783lpov.jpg
 
If I get lucky, I might snag another one yet today. On another property I had a pic of a pretty gnarly boar on the game camera. I think I might have to go out and see if I can locate him.
I have been using a Savage in .308 lately with my night vision, and I thought I would change out the barrel today, but I guess I should wait for a bit to give me time to resight it afterward and work up a load. It is destined to be a 6.5 Creedmore asap.
 
Flint,
I live 10 miles from where your family's property is. I fish Spavinaw and Hudson all the time. Don't know the last time you were up there. But they have a MAJOR hog problem around Spavinaw. You can watch them feeding the ridges from the boat on the north side of Spavinaw Creek. There's so much land, the ridges are so steep, and the hogs so used to running them, that usually the dogs can't keep up. Much less gain ground.

Stony,
Not trying to derail this thread at all. Strictly curiosity. Is there something wrong with your .308? Or are you just changing to a 6.5 because you can? Does the 6.5 offer you something with NV optics that the .308 is lacking or over producing?
 
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BigBore....There is absolutely nothing wrong with the .308, I'm just changing it over for something to do different....variety and spice of life thing I guess. I have been playing with a 6.5 Creedmore in another rifle and thought my Savage might be fun with a heavy barrel and NV. I sat out until 1:15 this morning and my target boar never showed up...just coons and deer. I did manage to find this guy waiting for me in one of my traps this morning though. I took a fair video of him with my camera, but no idea how to post it....he had some pretty bad attitude! Number 536..
DSCN1469_zpsubwlntgc.jpg
 
I have been dying to get on a nice plot of land to do some longer range shooting at some feral hogs. I guess I stay too busy trying to save lives and don't know many people with large plots of land that would allow me to shoot their pests. You would think I wouldn't have such a hard time in southern Oklahoma lol
 
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